Man sues to regain promised free meals for life at Burger King

Don Sweeney, The Sacramento Bee
Published 12:00 p.m. PT Jan. 5, 2019

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The ongoing battle of who makes the best burger is on! On the West Coast, everyone love In-N-Out Burger, so most East Coasters are dying for a taste! Turns out, that won't be happening any time soon.
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This Feb. 1, 2018, file photo shows a Burger King Whopper meal combo at a restaurant in the United States.(Photo: Gene J. Puskar, AP)

When a Burger King manager offered Curtis Brooner free meals for life after he spent an hour trapped in a dirty bathroom, the Oregon man accepted — with gusto, KPTV reported.

For the next 13 days, the 50-year-old ate for free at the Portland restaurant nearly every day — sometimes twice a day, The Oregonian reported. Then employees told him a district manager had put the kibosh on the deal.

Now Brooner has filed a civil suit to try to force the burger chain to either restore his free meals or pay him the cost of one free meal a week for the probable remainder of his lifetime, KATU reported.

“It’s an honor issue,” Brooner said, reported Willamette Week. “They could have said, ‘The next meal is free,’ and that would have ended it. But that’s not the deal they made.”

Unless Burger King reinstates the free meal offer, Brooner seeks the value of one free Whopper meal per week for his foreseeable lifespan, according to the text of the lawsuit posted by The Oregonian.

Brooner and his attorney, Michael Fuller, calculate he might live to age 72 — knocking five years off the average lifespan for his love of cheeseburgers — requiring Burger King to fork over $9,026 for one $7.89 Whopper meal per week for 22 years, KATU reported.

“There are funny elements of the case, but there is nothing funny about being locked in a dank bathroom for an hour,” Fuller said, according to the station.

Brooner spent an hour Dec. 15 waiting for a locksmith to free him from the Burger King’s restroom after the door refused to open, KPTV reported.

“It’s the kind of place where you hold your breath,” he said, according to The Oregonian. He heard Burger King employees laughing at him outside and cut his hand on a fly swatter they’d pushed under the door for him to try to jimmy the lock, the suit says.

After being freed, Brooner spent another hour recovering inside the restaurant, reported KATU. His lawsuit says that’s when the Burger King manager offered him free meals for life to make up for the incident.

But when Brooner returned to the restaurant Dec. 28 for yet another free meal, employees told him the company had rescinded its offer, The Oregonian reported.

“This may seem like a story right out of an episode of ‘Seinfeld,’ ” Fuller said, reported Willamette Week. “But we have evidence to support our claim. And a deal is a deal.”